Newspaper The Barre Daily Times (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959 [Online Resource]
About The Barre Daily Times (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959 [Online Resource]
By the end of the nineteenth century, Barre, Vermont was the center of a thriving granite industry. In 1897, Frederick E. Langley, an experienced but down-on-his-luck printer and publisher, selected Barre as the place to start a daily newspaper. Barre was growing rapidly and had only two struggling papers when Langley arrived. He printed the first issue of the Barre Daily Times on March 16, 1897. With little capital, support from a wife who was also a printer, and one cub reporter, Langley proclaimed that the Times would be independent, aggressive, enterprising, honest, fearless, and progressive, for Barre first and the rest of the world afterwards. In the first issue, he optimistically advertised for 25 boys to sell the afternoon paper to workers leaving the stone sheds.
The Barre Daily Times successfully attracted readers and paying advertisers. A 1904 column in the trade publication Printers’ Ink reported that most local merchants preferred to advertise in the Times rather than the competing daily, the Barre Evening Telegram, which ceased publication the next year. The Times expanded from four pages to eight, and later to ten. On its tenth anniversary, the Times reported a daily circulation of 4,440. In November 1916, Langley, editor Dean H. Perry, and several other employees filed papers of incorporation for the Times, and Langley encouraged employees to buy stock.
After Langley’s death in 1938, a group of employees bought the Times from the Langley estate. The partners included editor Perry and business manager Alexander C. Walker. In 1957, Walker bought out the other partners. The following year, he purchased the Montpelier Evening Argus and in 1959 merged the two papers to create one daily paper, The Times-Argus, which continues to serve central Vermont.
The Times shared state, regional, and national news, but focused on Barre and nearby communities. The paper reported on many aspects of the granite industry, including business enterprises, labor and unions, technological developments, and health and safety issues. The paper also covered the social, political, and cultural life of what was, for Vermont, a diverse population that included European and French Canadian immigrants drawn to work in the quarries and stone sheds. The Times kept readers informed about municipal issues and local politics, especially during the years when Langley served as mayor (1915, 1920-1922) along with two socialist mayors (1916, 1929-1931).To gather community news, the Times depended on a corps of paid and unpaid correspondents. The long-running column “Talk of the Town,” described as “local happenings tersely told for busy readers,” offered all sorts of announcements about Barre events, people, and businesses.
Provided By: University of VermontAbout this Newspaper
Title
- The Barre Daily Times (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959 [Online Resource]
Dates of Publication
- 1897-1959
Created / Published
- Barre, Vt. : Frank E. Langley
Headings
- - Barre (Vt.)--Newspapers
- - Vermont--Barre
- - United States--Vermont--Washington--Barre
Genre
- Newspapers
Notes
- - Daily
- - Began in Mar. 1897? Ceased August 29, 1959.
- - Merged with: Montpelier evening argus to form: The Times argus.
- - Description based on: Vol. VII, no. 41 (May 1, 1903); title from masthead (Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, viewed July 13, 2016).
- - Latest issue consulted: Vol. XXVI, no. 243 (December 30, 1922) (Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, viewed July 13, 2016).
- - Montpelier evening Argus
- - Times Argus (Barre, Vt.)
Medium
- 1 online resource
Call Number/Physical Location
- ISSN RECORD
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2016271142
OCLC Number
- 953526442
ISSN Number
- 2473-4101